Tag: Gaza Strip

The Face of the Middle East is about to change again

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

The World is changing fast and is about to change again in the Middle East.

22 member Arab League nations called Monday for combating Islamic State extremists, acting to join forces against the terror threat as President Obama continues to forge his own coalition for battling the extremist group.

It’s not clear to what extent the Arab League and western allies are coordinating……The Arab League resolution calls for immediate measures to combat the group on the political, defense, security and legal levels.

Arab states join forces against ISIS, as Obama preps strategy

One of Islam’s most revered holy sites – the tomb of the Prophet Mohamed – could be destroyed and his body removed to an anonymous grave under plans which threaten to spark discord across the Muslim world.

Saudis risk new Muslim division with proposal to move Mohamed’s tomb

Concerning Israel:

A senior government official in Jerusalem on Sunday told the Israeli press that Hamas is already digging new terror tunnels and smuggling a new stockpile of missiles into the Gaza Strip in preparation for its next war against the Jewish state.

Hamas Already Digging New Terror Tunnels

The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has changed the opinions of certain global players who now wish to hold dialog with the group, senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Zahar said Saturday, according to Ynet. Al-Zahar said nations – he did not give specifics – which had previously regarded his organization as a terrorist group had now undergone a change of heart.

 

General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, proposed to Mahmoud Abbas a far-reaching plan.  According to this plan, Egypt will provide a 1,600 square kilometer area near the Gaza Strip, an area that will make the Strip five times its size today, there shall be established a Palestinian state under the total control of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian refugees would return to this country and it would be demilitarized.

Al-Sisi proposes: Extend Gaza Strip into Sinai and establish Palestinian state there

Will Iran emerge with a new leader?

Iran’s supreme leader underwent prostate surgery on Monday at a government hospital in Tehran, state media said in a rare report on the state of health of the country’s top cleric.
The 75-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in Iran and has been the country’s top leader since 1989, was reported to be recovering.

Iran’s Khamenei undergoes surgery for prostate cancer

 

 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Revelation 22:12

Gaza Ceasefire – will it hold?

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

As of yesterday, a new ceasefire agreement has been accepted by Israel and Hamas. Is the war over and did Israel get the victory?? The re-opening of the Gaza border crossing is the Rafah crossing that Egypt has been guarding against terrorist entering into Gaza and Israel via the Sinai Peninsula.

The battered residents of southern Israel were clear: “Israel surrendered to terror” by failing to destroy Hamas and accepting a truce that left the terrorists fully armed. The next Gaza war is only a matter of time, they insisted.

Israeli government officials tried to put a positive spin on the situation, noting that Hamas, and Gaza as a whole, had suffered a major blow.

………………..

………. members of Israel’s security cabinet, who were furious that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire without first seeking their input.

The terms of the deal Netanyahu accepted were these:

  1. Both sides will immediately implement an open-ended ceasefire (which they did on Tuesday afternoon);
  2. Gaza border crossings will be opened for the import of humanitarian aid and supplies for reconstruction;
  3. Gaza’s fishing zone will be extended further into the Mediterranean.

The Hamas demands that did not make the final cut were:

  1. The development of sea and air ports in Gaza;
  2. The release of Hamas terrorists arrested in Judea and Samaria over the past two months;
  3. The transfer of salaries to Hamas officials in Gaza.

The Israeli conditions removed from the final draft included:

  1. The demilitarization of Gaza;
  2. A mechanism to prevent Hamas from rearming;
  3. The return of the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers taken by Hamas during the Gaza war.

Rafah Border Crossing

Hamas ultimatum

by atharris, posted in Israel, Middle East

Failing a Gaza seaport, the war goes on and thousands of Israelis will die

 

Hours before the 72-hour ceasefire was due to expire Friday morning, Aug. 8, the Palestinian Hamas’ military wing slapped down an ultimatum before Israel: Either allow the Gaza Strip to have an open seaport – which would be tantamount to lifting the Gaza blockade – or prepare for a long and brutal war of attrition with thousands of fatalities.

Hamas’ decision about extending the ceasefire was tensely awaited Thursday night after Israel’s acceptance. Instead, the Palestinian Islamists declared that the war would go on unless Israel bowed to their dictates.
Israel’s envoys had previously rejected their demand for a deep sea Gaza port in the talks taking place in Cairo under Egyptian auspices.

Abu Obeida, spokesman of Hamas’ military wing, Ezz e-Din Al-Qassam,  also announced that his movement had acquired new rockets with larger warheads than the more than 3,000 fired against the Israeli population in the month-long conflict, and they would be aimed at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport. Israel would be severed from its air transport ties with the outside world, he said.
“We demand our fundamental rights,” said the Hamas spokesman, in a statement that was broadcast live Thursday night. “We call on our envoys to the Cairo talks not to continue negotiations until Israel surrenders to our demand for a seaport. The war is not over until the siege of Gaza ends.”

 

http://www.debka.com/article/24176/Hamas-ultimatum-Failing-a-Gaza-seaport-the-war-goes-on-and-thousands-of-Israelis-will-die

Turning Point?

by atharris, posted in Israel/Hamas conflict, Middle East

Gaza’s sole power plant said down after Israeli attack

The only power plant supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip was knocked out of commission by Israeli shelling, the deputy director of the energy authority in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday.

 
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